Mistaken for an Angel
by 0-Miyako-0
Summary: Sakura has a power that nobody has ever seen, not in her world at least. One night, she makes a mistake that can never be fixed and ends up in the book 'The Thief Lord! Does she know someone's after her? My first fanfic, plz don't critisize.
1. An Unexpected Trip

There are some words in the story that are Italian, but you can find what they mean in the back of the actual book 'The Thief Lord'  
Enjoy :P

**An Unexpected Trip**

When the sky went black and the stars came out, it was just about 10 pm and Sakura was just coming home from a party at her friends house, her long blond hair was in her face and her green eyes were partly closed because she was so tired. She staggered to her room, and right away flopped onto her bed and fell into a deep sleep without even changing out of her clothes, coat, or even taking off her boots. When ever she slept her face was so peaceful and for strange reasons, she never had many dreams, but when ever she did they were short and somehow had a small sight into the future.

She tossed and turned in her bed, she seemed to be weeping in her sleep, and her dream was becoming a nightmare. She saw a blurry black and white figure trying to attack her, it kept repeating something, but it wasn't clear enough to understand, all she new was that something bad was going to happen. She suddenly woke up and shot her head around to see where she was, she had rolled over out of her bed. When she got back up onto her bed, she had finally calmed down and tried to get back to sleep. She didn't have any luck, so she decided to read. 'The Thief Lord' was her favorite book so far, she wasn't too far into it, but even so, she wished she could vanish into it. Tonight was a special night she would never forget. She always had a hard time reading without talking, so she just read aloud. Each word she read sounded like music to your ears. Each sound was so beautiful that you could get lost into it by just sitting there and listening.

She continued to read on without noticing that an icy blue light was surrounding her like wings wrapping around a bird. Even though the light felt as cold as ice, but was over combed by a strange warm wind started to pickup and that's when Sakura lifted her head up, but before she could say anything, she disappeared without a trace; all that was left was her book covered in a golden dust.

She was spinning out of control; she couldn't stop no matter how hard she tried. She opened her eyes, but everything was blurry, she saw the colors of the rainbow rush past her; suddenly things started to become clear and the colors began to fade, she saw that she was falling head first into the ground. "Ahhh!" Sakura screamed, "Whoa!"

She fell out of the strange lights and landed in a big puddle right next to a church. Soaking wet Sakura lifted her head and looked around. "W-where am I?" she stammered, her coat looked as if it was dumped into a pool. Everything was drenched big time. She walked around a little bit trying to find a place to get out of the rain, every thing looked blurry for awhile. She found an orphanage that was not to far from the church. BANG! BANG! BANG! She hit the door of the orphanage to see if anyone would answer.

"_Salve_?" a Sister answered the door with a look on her face wondering why anyone would be at the door at this hour.

"_Scuzi_? Can I come in? Somehow I fell out of the sky and ended up here." Sakura replied while shivering in the cold.

"Oh _cara_! Of course you can stay here! Come in before you catch a cold." the Sister rushed her in so quick Sakura almost fell over.

'What the heck!! I just understood Italian!' Sakura thought.

In her confusion Sakura followed the Sister to the second floor into a room with two beds that where clean and made up. "I hope you like it, its all we have." the Sister explained.

"_Grazie_. It's great." Sakura thanked the Sister

Sakura looked around and tried to make herself at home even though she had nothing with her. She slipped her jacket off, and kicked her boots and fell on to the bed trying to fell asleep, but didn't have much trouble.

'_Why must things take so long!?_' a girl though impatiently, her skin was as pale as paper and was as cold as ice, and her hair was like black ink, so were her wings , but you couldn't see them against the night sky. Her evil jade green eyes filled with greed were glaring down into Sakura's window, '_I will have her soul!_' she thought again. She used to be an angel that you usually see in movies, but because of her greed she was punished. Her punishment was that she was forced to live on earth with humans for all eternity, and she hated it so much, that's why her wings turned black and her heart turned to ice, so had a new name, The Dark Angel...

The next morning, the church bell rang and woke up every one in the orphanage except for Sakura; she was used to hearing a wake up call and ignoring it. _"Scuzi?_' the Sister that helped Sakura into the orphanage called, "Child, it's time for breakfast."

"Just 5 more minutes Mom." Sakura mumbled not realizing where she was.

"Uh? Child? It's Sister Suzann, not your mother."

"Huh?" Sakura shot up confused, "Where am I?"

"At the Orphanage of the Merciful Sisters." Sister Suzann answered, "In Venice, Italy." she continued

"But how is that possible? I was at home last night, then I woke up and started to read then somehow there where these blue lights and..." Sakura paused from shock, "Oh no! Last night did happen!"

"I'm not sure what you are talking about, but all you said was that you fell out of the sky. But how about you just come down for breakfast. Uh.. What is your name?"

"Sakura."

Sakura just sat there for awhile, she finally got up and went downstairs to get some breakfast. But one thing that never left her mind was 'How...'

Chapter 1: An Unexpected Trip


	2. A New Room Mate

Will be continued, just been busy.

Chapter 2

Sakura stayed at the orphanage for the next few days trying so hard to get back home, she realized that she read herself into this world, so she thought if she wrote a story about her life she could read herself back home. But she had no luck. She missed her family and her old life so much that almost every night she cried, but somewhere in her heart she had excepted where she was. But ever since she had accepted that she was there she wondered '_where is the Thief Lord?_' A few more days went by and every night she looked out the window to see a shadow running across the roof tops. Sometimes her mind tricked her into seeing him, but the closest she ever saw was a crow flying of the rim of the fountain.

One morning the Sister Suzann came knocking on Sakura's door. "Sakura? May I ask you a favor?" Sister Suzann asked

"Sure, what is it?" Sakura asked

"We have a new orphan here, all the other rooms are full, and can she stay with you?"

"Sure, I don't mind, what's her name?"

"Alysia. Alysia dear, come and meet Sakura, she will be sharing her room with you."

"_Salve._" Alysia greeted while looking down at her feet, she look no older than 5 years old, 6 at the latest.

"Hello Alysia, nice bag." her bag was a toy duck that could be filled with toys and clothes.

"Thank you." Alysia looked up with a little courage

"I'll leave you two alone, dinner is in 15 minutes." Sister Suzann left closing the door behind her.

Alysia made her way over to the empty bed that had been sitting across from Sakura for the few days she had been there. She had long brown hair that went down to the middle of her back and her eyes were a hazel color. She started to empty out her duck bag, all she had was two shirts, a pair of pants, underwear, four socks that didn't match, and a small box with a blue and pink flower pattern on it.

"What's this?" Sakura picked up the box

"It was my Mom's jewelry box." Alysia replied

"It's very pretty."

"Thank you. My Mom always used to play dress up with me, and when we did, she let me wear some of her necklaces."

There was a slight pause between them.

"Well, I hope you like it here, it's not much but it's comfortable."

So the girls went getting to know each other, in a matter of moments, they became best friends as if they knew each other for years.  
They went down to the main hall to have some dinner, all the little kids ran up to Sakura to see who was with her, the kids took Alysia away from Sakura to play a game before they got their dinner. Sakura was quite good with kids, all of the little ones always wanted to play hide 'n' seek with her.

"Hello Sakura" a boy with blond combed back hair came over

"What do you want Mark?" Sakura asked purposely making herself sound annoyed.

"I see you have a new room mate. Maybe one of my friends could baby sit her, and then you and I could go out on a date." Mark said trying to sound like a ladies man; he was always trying to be with her.

"Why don't you go bribe the cook for an extra muffin or something? Just leave me alone and stop bugging me." She tried to get rid of him.

"Ha. I already did, but she said no. And since your an orphan and all alone like me, maybe you won't have to be alone if you give me a chance." He put his hand on a chair and leaned on it trying to be cool as usual.

"In your dreams." She walked off, but before she completely left, she hooked her foot around the leg of the chair that Mark was leaning on and pulled it out from under him.

"Oh. Sorry." She said sarcastically and left him on the floor walking off to find a table to sit at.


	3. The Shadow and Her

Chapter 3

The air outside of her window was so cold and dark, yet she had no fear of going out into it. Sakura was getting dressed so she can go out to explore all the alleys of Venice, to see if they were really like she imagined in the book before she was taken into it. As she stepped out the window, she paused and looked down, the ground looked like a sea of black at night, but she jumped down from the second floor anyways. "Whoa!" Sakura stumbled back into a bush, "Crap." She got up and brushed herself off and continued on her stroll in the night.

She looked around every corner and down every canal. She was right; it did look just like how she imagined it. Sakura was amazed at how wonderful Venice was; she forgot what her life was like before, with all her friends and family most likely worrying about her. She looked in the shop windows; she saw delicious cakes and beautiful jewelry. She stopped when something caught her eye; it was a mask that looked like the one that the Thief Lord wore. And right next to it was another mask, it was also black, but it didn't have the long raven like nose the Thief Lord had. 'I must have that mask. I'll get it tomorrow.' She thought to her self. She lost focus for a moment, when she looked at the other masks, in the shop window, there as a reflection of a figure like an angel against the moon. She turned around to see if it was an angel, but there was nothing there, just the pale moon, the buildings, and the water. She walked off still looking at the spot she saw the angel, with a small look on her face of fear.

Sakura was melting away into the shadows of the damp alleys. She could have been right in front of you and you couldn't see her when it was at night. It was getting late, and she was tired she started to head back to the orphanage when she heard a noise like shuffling.

"Who's there?" she called out. But nobody answered accept the wind, "Show yourself!"

The wind started to pick up, it was almost strong enough to blow Sakura off her feet. She raised her arms to cover her face for the cold needle pricking air, her eyes where just open enough to see what was around her. She looked around, trying not to fall over into the canal right next to her. "Your mine..." a voice called out from the wind.  
She turned and ran with all the speed she had when she saw the angel again. Filled with fear she had lost track of where she was going and got lost, she turned her head to see if there was anyone following her, but what she didn't notice was that she was running straight into a canal. She looked back in front of her, but before she could react, her body jumped instantly across the dark canal. Every thing seemed to freeze because of her fear. Sakura loved to swim, but she would never swim in water that she couldn't see what was under her.

She landed on the other side of the canal, but her foot slipped on the edge. "Ahh!!!!" Sakura screamed as she fell back into the canal.  
Sakura went under the water, freaking out and running out of breath too quickly, she opened eyes, everything was dark and the water was hurting her eyes. When she brought her head up, see saw that there was no ledge to grab on to. The current was pulling her along to a small stair case to get up. The current stopped and Sakura swam over to the stairs, dragging herself up onto the brick walk way. She was so tired from struggling in the water that when she stood up, she stumbled over and just about fell in again! She looked around to see where she was, _'Great, I'm lost!' _she thought, still looking around to see if the not-so-nice angel was around, but it wasn't. All there was only a few boats and buildings around the water. She made her way through the alleys for about fifteen minutes until she found the San Marco. There she could make her way back to her warm soft bed, hoping that Alysia would still be asleep when she came back in through the window...

The next day Sakura woke up to Alysia sitting at the end of her bed just staring at her. The sunlight beating on her face felt so warm compared to how cold last night was. "Are you all right?" Alysia asked

"Yeah. Just a bit tired. Why?" Sakura asked

"When I woke up, I heard you talking in your sleep."

"Really?"

"Yeah you were saying something about some angel and the canal."

"Uh..." she paused wondering what she was going to say, "Just a dream probably."

"Well breakfast is in half an hour. You might want to get dressed. Can I go play with Sera?"

"Who's Sera?"

"My friend. We met when you and Mark had that funny argument." Alysia giggled remembering what Sakura did to him.

"Sure. And Mark disserved what I gave him."

"Okay. See you at breakfast."

Alysia left the room so quickly, that Sakura didn't get a chance to say good bye. _'Just like a little sister_.' thinking to herself, Sakura lifted herself out of bed. _Achoo!!!! _Sakura sneezed so hard that she fell over back onto her bed. "Oh man." she moaned as she got up again and made her way over to the old dresser that the some of the sisters got at a second hand shop. The man who was the shop owner was so rude! All he had set the price at 200,000 lire; it should have been worth 75,000 lire! She opened the drawer like every other day, listening to the creaking noise it always gave; the paint looked as if it had faded years ago. But it was still good for using. She got dressed, still moaning about how cold she felt, she knew she was sick, but nobody could find out about that because then she could have been caught about her little adventure the night before. Her punishment would have been even worse than kitchen duty! She put on her thick dark purple sweater and jeans and went down stairs for breakfast. She sneezed several times while down the hallway, a couple other kids passed her, but didn't notice that she had a cold.

She got down to the food room and got her breakfast. Mark came over as usual trying to make a good conversation with her. "Are you okay? You look sick." he asked

"I'm fine."

"Are you sure? 'Cause you look pale."

"I'm sure I'm fine" Sakura replied again trying to hold back a sneeze

"Well you missed a small announcement from Sister Lauren."

"What was it?"

"Dottore Massimo is coming to adopt a child next week. I heard that he isn't happy with his other son because he doesn't have enough discipline."

"Well if that _is _true, I wouldn't want to make him mad. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go eat my breakfast." she finished and left him again.


	4. Embarrassment, Fear, and Happiness

Sorry I haven't been writing lately. I've just had a lot of homework, but I don't have any home work this weekend, so I expect to get lots done!

Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 4

So the week went by super slow because Sakura was trying to get over the cold, Alysia was still being like a little sister asking if she could do things that she could do without permission. Each day she had chicken noodle soup brought to her by the sisters. She had made up a lie so that nobody would know that she went out at night, she said that when she went out on the weekend, she tripped and landed in a puddle, and when she got home that's when she got sick. She was all better by the end of the week the day before Dottore Massimo was coming to adopt a child; she was hoping that he would take Mark so that she wouldn't have to deal with him anymore. At least he would be with people he would fit in with; he had always been the type that would have lots of money.

The next day every one was getting ready for Dottore Massimo, he demanded that everyone lined up in front of him instead of individual interviews that people usually have. Sakura and Alysia were helping each other get ready. Alysia was wearing a plaid skirt and a blue sweater with black dress shoes, and Sakura was dressed in a dark purple shirt that was baggy in the arms, with jeans, silver earrings, and black boots with buckles on the sides. Sakura looked at the clock on her bed side table. "Oh no! We're late!!!" Sakura exclaimed

"Oh no! We have to hurry!" Alysia agreed. She started to pull Sakura out of the room and down to the lunch room. They ran as fast as they could, hoping that Dottore Massimo wasn't there yet and nobody would notice them. Sakura's heart was pounding so hard because she had never been good with embarrassment, her face went beat red and when she tried to talk, and nothing came out. The lunch room seemed to be so far away from them, each turn they took didn't seem to help at all. When they finally got to the lunch room door, Alysia opened the door, it made a big creaking sound that got every bodies attention. They both popped their heads in, and everyone looked at the two of them. Alysia and Sakura continued to go in with everybody still watching them; Sakura was looking down at the ground trying not to make eye contact with the Dottore. When she finally decided to look up, the Dottore was only a few people down from her; she looked up to the beginning of the line. Her eyes met another pair of eyes, they were brown and beautiful, and his face was perfect to her opinion. He smiled at her, she blushed when she smiled at him, what she didn't noticed was that Dottore Massimo was right in front of her. The Dottore looked at Sakura, then back at the boy. She noticed that when the Dottore looked at the boy, he quickly looked away from her; the look on the boy's face was surprising to her. It looked as if fear had taken over what she thought looked like happiness, she some how knew that the boy wasn't a bad kid like Mark said.

Suddenly a booming voice broke the silence. "Ah ha! Here is a boy that looks quite decent." Dottore Massimo took Mark by the hand and led him to one of the sisters to adopt him; they both walked out the door right after that with the sister, "Scipio! Come!" the booming voice came again. Mark looked back and gave a look to Sakura; it looked like he was trying to say that I was worth nothing now compared to him. But Sakura didn't care, the only thing she was thinking about was that boy Scipio, the look on his face was unforgettable.

"I saw how the Dottore looked at you." Alysia came over with her friend Sera

"Well all I noticed was his son Scipio." Sakura pause a moment, "The look on his face was..."

"I heard that the boy was a bad kid." Sera spoke up

"No, I don't think so." Sakura looked back again, hoping that she would see his face again.

.................

Scipio was tired of always getting yelled at for no reason at all. He got into his father's boat like any other day, but when he went to got sit down, he noticed that Mark was sitting in his spot. Mark looked up at Scipio knowing that he was in Scipio's spot. "Scipio, let your new brother sit there, you can got sit in the back." the Dottore signaled him to go to the back seat.

"Yes father." Scipio replied and as he was going to the back, the boat driver looked at him with disapproval. He continued going to the back.

The boat was turned on; the smell from the motor was foul and was coming from the back of the boat where Scipio was, "Leon! What did I tell you about putting cheap gas in the boat!" his father barked at him so loud that you could hear it from the other side of the canal.

"Sorry sir." Leon apologized trying to focus on driving. The rest of the ride was anything but comfortable; Dottore Massimo was talking to Mark about all the rules of the house. As usual Scipio didn't look at his father, but just looked across the water, thinking of the girl that was at the orphanage. She was so beautiful that he could stop thinking about her, all of a sudden the boat cam to a slow stop in front of the giant house he lived in. He went inside, but his and his father ignored him as usual still talking to Mark, his heart felt angry, he knew it was jealousy but he didn't care.

The day went by a bit too fast for Scipio, but when it was night, he wasn't Scipio Massimo any more, he was the Thief Lord. He jumped out his window like he did every other night, looking at the moon breathing in the cold frosty air; he left for the Stella...

................

Sakura had been thinking hard about staying at the orphanage, if she was going to leave it would be that night. The one thing that would make her fell bad was leaving Alysia behind; she knew that Alysia would have a better chance of being adopted than she did. Her decision was leaning towards leaving. She had all of her stuff packed and her heart ready for the change that was going to happen. She had a decision made, she was going to leave. "Hey Alysia, why don't you got and see if there is an extra bed in Sera's room, maybe you can sleep there." Sakura suggested

"Okay!" Alysia got up and ran out the door, holding her stuffed toy duck in her arm.

"Well I hope you have a great time..." she turned back towards the window and grabbed her bag. She was not to sure about her choice, but she was going to do it anyways. She turned her head back to the door when her leg was out window "Bye." she said while jumping out the window. She went down the same path she went down last week, looking down every alley to see if the shadow was there again, but there was no sign. She went to the same spot where she fell into the canal, but instead of jumping across the canal, she took the bridge and made it to the other side. The pathway was wet and the pathway was even darker than before but she went anyways.

Scipio was taking his time making his way up to the Stella until he noticed that some one was walking on the other side of the canal only about ten meters away from him. Scipio slipped into a dark alley he was watching the person who was not that far from him now, '_Wait a minute!'_ he thought to himself '_That's the girl from the orphanage!_' He continues to watch Sakura walk down the side of the canal. He began to follow her when she turned around the corner.

Sakura turned around to see if she was being followed, but she saw nothing all she could hear was her breathing. She continued to walk but her pace was a little faster, she turned again down an even darker alley, she stopped dead in her tracks and started to back up slowly when she saw the angel in front of her. "What do you want!?" Sakura called out

"I am the Dark Angel. And I want your soul!" she flew in the air and came towards Sakura. Sakura started to run, but the Dark Angel was too fast for her. The Dark Angel grabbed her by the back of her jacket and lifted her up into the air. Scipio backed up the moment as he saw this, the Dark Angel flew off with Sakura, and Scipio followed them even if he didn't know what he was doing. Sakura struggled to get out of the Dark Angel's grip, "Let me go!!!" Sakura screamed while hitting her in the arm.

"If you say so." The Dark Angel dropped her in a canal with a really strong current that was going in Scipio's direction, Sakura went down the canal trying to keep her head above the water, but she couldn't. Scipio was standing on the pathway only a few meters away from Sakura. He reached his hand down to grab her hand. She went to grab the ledge of the pathway, but to her surprise, she grabbed a hand. Scipio was pulling her out, but she didn't know who it was. Once her head was above the water, she gasped for air, trying to lift her self out, but she slipped back in, but the Scipio was still holding on, not willing to let her go. "Come on!" Scipio pulled Sakura out of the canal. She flopped onto the stone pathway "Thank you so much!" Sakura sat up still gasping for air and shivering from the cold air. Everything was soaked from her head to her toes.

"Are you okay?" Scipio asked

"I think I'm fine." She looked at the person who saved her and just stared at him with her mouth wide open, "You're the Thief Lord!"

"How do you know that?" he asked

"Uh..." She paused not knowing what to say

"Well, it doesn't matter lets get you out of the cold."

"Wait! What about my bag?" She looked down the canal taking care not to fall in.

"It must have come off."

"Damn." she said turning on her heel

"Come on. Do you want a place to stay?" he smiled, then turned and walked off. Sakura started to follow; she was amazed that she met the Thief Lord. But she mostly felt embarrassed, full of fear, and happy.


	5. A New Home

Chapter 5

Scipio led Sakura down a dark alley towards the back of the Stella, '_There are too many alleys in Venice._' Sakura thought. "Well here we are, the Stella." Scipio tried to make Sakura feel at home

"Thank you for giving me a home." Sakura thanked him again

"No problem" he said ringing the old bell that hung just above the door.

"Hey Scip." a boy that was as tall as Scipio and also had brown hair answered the door; Sakura guessed it was Prosper, "I see you've made a new friend."

"Yes, I have." Scipio walked through the door signaling Sakura to follow, "So what's you name?"

"Sakura."

"What a unique name." Prosper said from behind her

"Thank you." Sakura said as they walked out from behind the large old theater curtain. It looked like it was in bad shape, all moth eaten and dusty.

"Looks like we have a new friend here." a girl came to the edge of the rail at the top of the theater, "And it seems that you came back earlier than when you found Prosper and Bo."

"Hey Scip!!!" a little boy with angel blond hair came running out holding a kitten in his arms.

"Hey Bo." Scipio came over taking the kitten, "This is Sakura."

"_Salve._" Bo came over with a the brightest smile on his face

"Yeah?!" Mosca raised his head sleepily from one of the theater chairs.

"Do we have any mattresses? Sakura needs a bed!"

"Yep. At this rate were gonna need a second theater for all the people your taking in!" Mosca chuckled while going to a little room behind the old curtain.

Hornet came down wearing black sweat pants and a navy blue sweater, "Here." She handed Sakura a pair of dry paints and a thick gray sweater with a sports logo on it, "They might be a bit small, but it's all I have that might fit you."

"That's okay. Thanks." Sakura took the clothes

"You can go change in the washroom down there." Hornet pointed to a plain white door that that had a lady sign on it.

"Okay. Thanks." Sakura went over to the washroom.

Scipio turned and went to the small kitchen they had and took out some olives. Bo came running over and before Scipio could even take one out, Bo took one first. To him everything seemed to be a fun competition with Scipio. Sakura came out with her wet clothes in her arms, "Um, where can I put these?" She asked

"I'll take them." Mosca and a spiky haired boy came over dragging a mattress behind them.

"Oh, do you need any help?" Sakura asked

"No we got it." The two of them went over to some stairs and asked "Where do you want to sleep?"

"Uh." Sakura thought a moment "right there." she pointed to a small balcony under Hornet's spot.

"Okay!"

The two of them brought all of her new and wet things up there. She turned around and saw Scipio taking off his mask; she had a funny look on her face trying to think of where she had seen him before.

"Hey. You the so..." Scipio ran over and covered her mouth before she could finish. Everyone looked at them wondering what was going on.

"Be right back." Scipio took Sakura back behind the red curtain.

"What?" Sakura whispered as quietly as she could.

"Don't say anything about that!" he yelled in a hushed tone

"About you being the..." Scipio looked at her again trying to make her stop

"Yes that." He said

"Okay." She was hoping that she would still have a place to stay.

"Well I have to go do some business I'll be back tomorrow." he said turning on his heel and leaving Sakura. She came out from behind the curtain trying to convince the others that it was nothing. After a few minutes, everyone decided to go to bed, but Sakura couldn't get to sleep. She just lay there staring at the cracked ceiling, thinking of her family, from her world, and how much she missed them. But an hour had passed and she fell asleep, thinking of her new home.


	6. Partners

Chapter 6

The next morning Sakura woke up to the smell of toast and fresh muffins. She raised her head looked around wondering where she was, within a few seconds; her memory came back to her. She got up shivering from how cold she was, looking around for her jacket, she found it lying across the rail of her new room. It was dry now; she put it on trying to warm up. "Good morning sleepy head." Prosper greeted Sakura

"What do you mean?" she asked

"It's 9:30." the spiky haired boy answered

"Well, you guys are early risers then." Sakura tried to joke around when she sat down on one of the theater chairs

"Here." Hornet came over with a slice of toast for Sakura

"Thanks. Hey, when does Scipio usually come by?" She asked

"He comes at random times, like when found my brother and I." Prosper answered while taking a bite out of his muffin

"Yeah, it was 2:00 in the morning!" Bo added from the rail of his room.

"Bo! What did I tell you about sitting on the rail?" Prosper ran over signaling his brother to jump.

"But it's fun." Bo giggled when Prosper caught him

Sakura was surprised at how Bo wasn't afraid of jumping off that rail; it was so high! She got up to walk around a bit, but right when she got up, her knee gave out on her. "Ah" she muttered under her breath.

"What's wrong?" Mosca asked lifting his head from the letter 'T' that he had his movie on.

"Oh. Nothing." she lied, her knee started to ache. She guessed that she hurt it last night. But that didn't stop her from exploring behind the curtain. She was getting into things that were mysterious to her. Going through the boxes off stage, she opened one that had some costumes in it; going through the clothes, she found some masks at the bottom of it. One that really caught her eye was a black one that was like the one she saw in the shop when she fist saw the Dark Angel. "Hey, look what I found." Sakura was pulling the box out from behind the curtain.

"What is it?" Bo asked

"It's full of costumes." Sakura opened it and threw a ten gallon hat at Bo

"Riccio! Come over here!" Hornet called out while taking out a red feather scarf

"What is it?" Riccio came out of the washroom

"Come look." Prosper watched Bo walk around blinded by the hat that was mush too big for him

"Hey. Wait a minute." Mosca said, "You look like the Thief Lord with that mask and coat on kinda."

"Really?" Sakura thought a moment, "I'll be right back." Sakura made her way up to her room to change into her other clothes. She came down as quietly as she could with her coat, shirt, jeans and mask on. She tapped on Riccio's shoulder; he jumped back surprised at what he saw.

"Wow Sakura! I mistook you for the Thief Lord!" Riccio stared wide eyed at her

"Yeah, but the mask doesn't have the long nose." Bo said trying on an army hat

Suddenly the bell rang from the side of the Stella. Prosper ran over to see who it was, by no surprise it was Scipio, holding a brown sack over his shoulder full of stolen goods that he would later sell. "Hey Scip." Prosper opened the door greeting Scipio with a friendly smile.

"Hey, what's going on?" he asked when he came out from behind the curtain

"Sakura found a box full of costumes!" Bo answered while putting on the red feather scarf Hornet found

"Where is Sakura?" Scipio was curious. All of a sudden he felt someone tap on his shoulder; he turned around to meet the eyes of Sakura behind a mask, "Wow!" That's the same out fit I wear!"

"I know. I didn't realize it until Mosca pointed it out." she explained

"I agree." he chuckled

He went over to the table with his loot and dumped it all out. Riccio and Bo wet over and started to look at it all, while Sakura just stood there wide eyed at what was sitting there on the table. Everyone was talking to Scipio about what price they would get out of it, "That's a laugh. I bet Barbarossa will offer us 150,000 lire for it." Prosper said with a smirk on his face.

"This stuff is probably worth 300,000 lire." Hornet added. Sakura was still looking at the loot as if it were worth 100,000,000 lire.

"Looks like somebody hasn't seen gold before." Riccio joked

"No, I have but," she picked up a golden flower with a crystal center, "this just seems like so much gold."

They all continued looking at the loot and trying to figure out how much they should sell it for. Sakura went over to Scipio trying to ask him something.

"Hey Scipio." she tapped his shoulder

"Yes?"

"Do you think that I might be able to help you steal things?"

"Maybe. If you do, you will have to prove to me that you are able to."

"What will I have to do?"

"Meet me in the San Marco tonight at 10 o'clock."

"Okay."

She looked at a clock that was in the loot pile, it said it was 10:30 in the morning. That would give her eleven and a half hours to get ready, "Well, I should go and bring this stuff to Barbarossa." Prosper started to put all the loot back in its brown bag.

"Can I come?" Sakura asked

"Sure." Riccio said.

Sakura felt that she had been accepted, even though she had only been there for one night. She took off her mask and followed Prosper and Riccio to the door. When they opened the old creaky door a gust of winter air came rushing in. All three of them shivered but didn't stop making their way to Signor Barbarossa's shop. The wind whistled through their ears down the crowded alleys, and the cold bit their skin but left no marks. They got into the small shop that was warm; it looked like everything was set up that if you even looked at it, it would fall and break.

"Ah, you have some more things for me? Wait in my office, be right there." Barbarossa said while looking in a small mirror trimming his beard.

"Wow, that's a way to lose customers, trimming you beard in the middle of your shop." Sakura whispered with a disgusted look on her face

"Don't worry, that's about the worst he can get." Prosper muttered under his breath as Barbarossa came around the corner.

"You better have something good for me this time." he sat down behind his desk that was covered in valuables, "Ah; you have a new friend now."

Prosper went ahead and dumped the loot on the desk and offered a price, right away Barbarossa didn't agree and offered a cheaper price that didn't agree with Prosper. They finally decided a price that seemed fair, and left the shop. "Wait a minute!" Barbarossa came running out side, "has the Thief Lord given you an answer about the client of mine yet?"

"Yes, the Thief Lord would like to do business with your client." Prosper tried to sound mature like Scipio would if he were there

"Great, the Conte will meet you at the Basilica, back left chapel, 3 o'clock sharp." Barbarossa said while rubbing his arms from the cold air

"Is he a real Conte?" Sakura asked

"What did I just say? If I say he is a Conte, he is a Conte!" Barbarossa spat

"No need to fly off the handle." Prosper chuckled

"_No need to fly off the handle_." Barbarossa impersonated Prosper in a childish voice turning on his heel and going back into his shop.

They all started giggling quietly making their way back to the Stella. Riccio was making silly faces and making fun of Barbarossa the whole time.

That night Sakura got up and quietly changed into her Thief Lord outfit and made her way to the side door, without making a single noise. Every alley she took was dark and damp, all the shadows surrounded her, but she gathered enough courage before she went out to keep fear away from her. When she got to the San Marco nobody was there, until she felt somebody tap on her shoulder, she quickly turned around. Scipio was so close that the nose of his mask was touching her mask. "_Salve_, Thief Lord." Sakura smirked

"Salve." Scipio replied

"So what is my first test?" Sakura went strait to business

"Your ability of getting around quietly." he ran to the fountain with golden horses on top of it, "Your turn."

She ran to, and didn't make a single noise. Scipio smiled, he was impressed and supposedly more. They both continued the test together and Sakura passed everything with no trouble at all. Not realizing their surroundings, something was watching them. "Wait a minute." Sakura stopped dead in her tracks and listened carefully

"What is it?" Scipio asked

"Shh!" she turned her head and saw the Dark Angel, "Oh no. Run!"

They both started to run as fast as they could jumping from roof top to roof top. "What are we running from?" Scipio asked as they slowed down

"I think it's a Dark Angel. She was the one who dropped me in the canal the night you saved me." she stopped in an arch that has right over a canal, but she didn't notice it. Suddenly something came down and pushed her from the back, Sakura fell forward but luckily grabbed onto a ledge of the art work on the arch. "Help me!" she panicked

"Hold on." Scipio reached down to grab her hand, but she was just out of reach. A dark cloud came together right beside Scipio, "Look out!" Sakura exclaimed trying to lift herself up. He ran to the other building not letting Sakura out of his sight, he looked up to see what was there. But the angel was gone; all that was left was a black feather in the angels place. Sakura was just about to pull herself up, but Scipio helped her up first. He just stared at her not knowing what to say.

"Well from what I saw, you would make a great partner." he smiled, but then it faded away too quickly to ignore, "But what was that back there?"

Sakura just sat there on the arch with a frown on her face, and not saying a word...


	7. An Untold Truth

Chapter 7

Sakura sat there not knowing how to begin. "Well, I kinda wasn't that honest with you when we met that night." Sakura said looking down at the dark water; the shadows made it look like there were creatures down there.

"No, I saw you being taken away by that angel. But why?" he said taking off his mask. They both got up and started walking towards the San Marco.

"Apparently, for some reason that angel said that she wanted my soul." she looked into his eyes trying to find some kind of hope that he would except her if she did tell him the whole truth

"Really?" he asked

"Yes. And this is going to sound really crazy but..."

"What is it?"

"I'm..." she pause taking a big breath and turning to face him, "I'm not from this world."

He just looked at her, "Like an alien?"

"No! I'm not an alien." she shouted just a bit too loud, "My world is the same as yours, but, your world is just a book to me."

"I don't believe that." he crossing his arms, expecting more.

"It's the truth. I came home from my friend's house and started to read the book, or your world. Then I disappeared into it."

"Really?"

"Yes, I know some things, like how Prosper and Bo came here. And what you said when you found them!"

"Hmm." he started to tap his foot on the bricks that covered the ground of the San Marco, "Okay, tell me one sentence that was said that night."

"Well, you said, 'Do you know what happens here after dark, things little eyes shouldn't see.'"

"What was said after that." he said with wide eyes

"Bo said 'we're not scared.' then you said 'Not scared, will aren't you the little tiger. Rawr!'"

"You really _are_ from another world!" he said taking one step back

"Yes, but you don't exist, you are only a story character. But I love this world better kinda. I feel so free here."

"Don't you miss your family?" he said tilting his head

"Yes, I do. But I don't know how to get back to them." she said looking down at the ground then back up at the sky. A shooting star went by but she didn't make a wish, she was caught between going home and staying in her favorite book, with the person she loved.

"Let's go home. I won't say anything about your secret, if you don't say anything about my secret. Okay?"

"Deal." she said with a smile on her face, "Hey wait a minute, what is the year here?"

"It's 2006." he said

"Okay, that's weird, 'cause the year in my world is 2008."

"Cool." he said. The both continued walking, talking about Sakura's world. But Scipio still seemed to be on his guard a bit, for he was unsure about how far that angel was willing to go to get Sakura's soul. Though he still felt like he was in love. When they got to the Stella, Mosca was awake, working on his movie. "Where have you two been?" he asked

"I was just showing Sakura around the city." Scipio took off his jacket and threw it onto one of the theater seats

"Well this explains why you're always falling asleep in the middle of the day Mosca." Sakura whispered, trying not to wake up the others

"What do you mean?" he asked

"I bet he stays up some nights to work on his movie." Scipio came back in from the kitchen with a jar of olives. Sakura came up and took a couple from the jar.

"Oh, yeah. I don't usually do this. But I just really wanted to work on it." Mosca said returning his head to the 'T' from the sign outside

"Well, I see that somebody likes olives." Scipio looked at Sakura's hand; there were five olives in her hand

"Yes, I do. Have you tried the kind that has jalapenos stuffed in them?" she asked

"No."

"They are hot, but so good. I didn't realize it but I almost had half of the jar." she chuckled quietly

"Then I gotta find a hiding place for these." Scipio turned back and placed the olives back into the small fridge

"Oh yeah, I never gonna find the olives now." she laughed

"Well, I have to go now." Scipio said going to get his jacket, "I'll be back tomorrow, so try to clean up a bit in the morning, okay?"

"Sure, see ya." Sakura said heading towards the stairs

"Bye." Scipio left, and disappeared into the night. He could melt away into the shadows so easily, that if you tried to track him, you would lose sight in less than five seconds, as for Sakura's secret. He would make sure nobody found out...


	8. The Dream Come True

Chapter 8

That morning Sakura was the first one to wake up, it was 7:26 and was dizzy from a strange dream, in her dream it was pitch black but she heard voices and felt as if she was being attacked. She didn't think anything about it because dreams were dreams. Nothing but your imagination. She had some new clothes now, Scipio had gotten them from a second hand shop; they were a little big, but better then nothing. She went down to the small kitchen they had, reading a book Hornet had given to her. Pulling out a box of cereal, she noticed Bo come in, "Good morning Bo" she said pouring some milk into a bowl of cereal

"Good morning. Guess what." he said opening the fridge taking out a glass of juice he had form last night

"What?"

"I saw you go out last night, and you came back with Scipio."

"Yes, that's right."

"Why?"

"He was showing me the city, so I don't get lost again." she took out two muffins and handed one to Bo

"Thank you." he walked off back up to his room. Sakura took a seat at the table thinking about what happened last night, she wouldn't admit it but, she was afraid of what the Dark Angel would do to her if she caught her. She quickly shut that thought out of her mind and started to eat, but the thought was still there, lingering in the back of her mind. After about an hour everyone was up and talking about the Thief Lords new job for the Conte. "I want to help Scipio with he break in." Bo said with such excitement

"No, I won't let you." Prosper said with such seriousness in his voice

"Well I want to meet the Conte." Riccio said

"I don't really care, as long as the payment is good, I'm fine with it." Hornet said taking a sip of her drink

"I think I'll just stay here and clean up." Sakura offered running her fingers through her hair, trying not to think about her aching knee

"Are you sure?" Mosca asked

"Yeah, I'm sure." she replied

"Well, all we have to do is wait for Scipio now." Prosper added lifting his brother up on his lap

They all went back to doing there own thing, Sakura just went up to her room and started to clean there. It was 2:00 when Scipio came; Sakura was finishing up the kitchen then.

"Hello." he greeted

"Hey." Hornet came over and Scipio gave her the money he got, Hornet was in charge of how the money was spent

"Well looks like you _found_ a lot this time." Prosper came down to greet Scipio

"Where's Sakura?" Scipio asked looking around for her

"In the kitchen." Hornet was counting the money

"Looks like Scipio has a crush on Sakura." Prosper whispered

"Yeah looks like it." Hornet continued counting. Sakura turned around and saw Scipio come over with a serious look on his face.

"Hey. What's wrong?" she asked

"I went to the library this morning and looked up 'Evil Angels'. And I found this." Scipio handed her a piece of paper

"What is it?"

"It's about that angel that attacked you last night. Apparently she died in the seventeen hundreds. She was a really kind lady, but when she was an angel, something happened. Nobody knows what but she came back, in the eighteen fifties looking for fallen angels. She would take their soul and it would give her power, but if she doesn't get a soul every two years. She will start to die."

"But isn't she already dead?"

"No, it also said that God punished her by sending her back to earth, and taking away her immortality. If an angel's immortality is taken away, then their wings change from white to black."

"But..." she paused forgetting to breathe, "I'm not an angel though. I'm a human."

"Well. When you came to this world, did you fall from the sky?" he lowered his voice

"Yeah, kinda. But I was only a few feet from the ground." she looked him in the eyes with a worried look on his face

"Well, you must have been mistaken for an angel."

Neither of them spoke for a minute or two until Riccio came over, "Hey Scip?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"We thought about the deal with the Conte. We are all gonna go with you, but Sakura wanted to stay behind and clean up." Riccio explained. Scipio looked back at her with a worried look in his eyes too.

"Don't worry its okay. You go and deal with the Conte. Hopefully, we get paid a fair price." she said pushing them out of the kitchen and back to the others; she came with them to find out what they would finally decide to do.

2:45 came around and they all left Sakura to clean the rest of the theater. She locked up the door and double checked it so the Dark Angel couldn't get in, but she didn't know that locks on doors couldn't stop her from coming in. She had finished the kitchen and a couple rooms, but she stopped when she heard a clanking noise behind the curtain. She tried to ignore it, but the noise went again, she went down to the door to see if the others were back yet but when she opened the door nobody was there. She headed back to the room she was cleaning, but when she touched the curtain, something came out and threw her back behind the curtain.

"You are lucky that you didn't fall into the canal again last night." the Dark Angel said walking over to her

"What do you want?" Sakura slowly got up getting ready to fight. She had two older bothers back in her world, every day she had to wrestle them for the remote. But she wasn't sure about fighting an angel that wanted something she didn't know about.

"I already told you. I want your soul." she stopped only ten feet away from Sakura, her wings made for look much bigger than how big she really was.

"But I'm not an angel."

"You fell from the sky, didn't you? So you must be an angel. Anyways, if you are not an angel, you still seem to have a power that I want."

"Oh yeah. What's that?" Sakura slowly backed up keeping her guard up

"You have the power to travel to different worlds."

"Yeah so. All I would only want to use my power for is to get back home."

"Enough talking. I need to do what I came here for." The Dark Angel charged at Sakura, but Sakura jumped out of the way and ran off the stage to get away. She didn't know where to go, but if the Dark Angel wasn't there, she liked it. The angel came flying out from behind the curtain and hit Sakura to the ground, holding a small, cold dagger in her hand. She went to get Sakura, but before she could, Sakura punched her in the face and fought her way out and ran up stairs. "You are going to regret that!" The Dark Angel followed Sakura up to the second floor of the Stella. When she got up there, Sakura was down back on the ground, she had jumped off the rail. Sakura went to the kitchen to grab a knife to protect her self, and hopefully nothing else.

She came out so slowly that it looked like a turtle would win a race in a landslide. The Dark Angel came down and tried to hit her with the dagger again, but Sakura moved out of the way. The Dark Angel tried again and again, but Sakura dodged and blocked them all. "Ah!" Sakura screamed in pain when the Dark Angel got her in the arm. Her shirt and hand had blood in them, the cut wasn't too deep, but it did hurt. Sakura stumbled back and the Dark Angel stepped forward with a laugh that wasn't loud, but seemed to ring in Sakura's ears. Suddenly, voices came from behind the curtain; the Dark Angel had an irritated look on her face then disappeared into thin air. Bo came in the curtain first watching his step, not realizing Sakura. But when Scipio came in, that was something else. "Sakura!!!" he came running over to her, when he saw that there was a bit of blood on her arm, he was lost for words.

"What happened?" Hornet stood there wide eyed, and then she noticed Sakura's wound. Hornet ran up to her room. Scipio helped Sakura get up by putting her arm around his neck. He brought her over to a theater seat, and placed her down as carefully as he could and rolled up her sleeve. "Ow!" Sakura moaned, when Hornet put some cleaning stuff on it. She wrapped it up right after that, to stop the bleeding. "Thank you." Sakura got up and walked over to the kitchen and put the knife she used in the sink.

"What happened?" Hornet repeated

"Uh." Sakura was lost for words, because if she said anything, it might let her secret out if they ask why.

"I don't think she remembers. I think she may have hit her head." Scipio looked at Sakura giving her a look that meant just go along with it

"Yeah, I can't remember." her thumb was twitching non-stop. They all looked at each other not knowing what to say, Sakura just went to the kitchen and stood at the sink, staring at the tap that always dripped water. She sighed at the relief that she was alive, and not at the grip of the Dark Angel. Scipio came in; she knew that he would be asking her questions.

"What happened?" he asked; just what Sakura thought he would start off with

"Some how, the Dark Angel got it and attacked me. I locked the doors, I know I did."

"When we came back, the door was open." he put his hand on her shoulder that wasn't hurt, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." she turned and went to the table they usually ate at try to avoid talking about what happened, "So what did the Conte have?"

She went over to a basket that was sitting on the floor and picked it up. "There's a pigeon in there." Mosca came over and opened to letter that was attached to it

"Here I took his wallet, so you can find out more about the snoop." Hornet handed Prosper a wallet, but Sakura didn't notice

"Her name is Sophia; she is a friendly and dependable creature." Scipio read the note aloud

"Sophia. Do you like pussy cats?" Bo ran over holding one of the kittens in his hands

"What the picture of?" Sakura looked over, Scipio's shoulder

"It's a lion's wing." Bo came back over to look at the picture that came with the basket

"No, is probably an angel's wing." Mosca took the picture and turned it a couple times to figure out what it was. Sakura didn't want to talk about angels right now, but she couldn't say anything.

"I want to help you with the stealing." Sakura spoke up looking Scipio straight in the eye. If she wasn't talking to Scipio while looking into his eyes, she would lose focus an a matter of seconds

"Yeah, please Scip. Not just the streaking out, but the breaking in as well." Riccio said

"Okay, I will need my trusty co-workers on this one." Scipio smiled also looking Sakura in the eyes

"Wow looks like the Thief Lord has a crush." Riccio whispered into Mosca's ear

"What did you say?" Scipio turned to face Riccio; his face was red with embarrassment

"Scipio and Sakura sitting in a tree," Riccio got up to run from Scipio, "K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

"You're dead!!" Scipio chased after Riccio leaving everybody laughing, Sakura though about what Riccio said, '_If I like him, I'm putting him at risk of being attacked too by the Dark Angel.'_ Suddenly her smile went away after she realized the truth.

They can never be together...


	9. Blackmail

Chapter 9

So everyday Prosper, Hornet, Riccio, and Sakura watched Ida Spavento's house before they would break in. Everyday the same old boring thing, the housekeeper went in, Ida went out for they day then came back, and then the house keeper left. One day Sakura decided to leave them and take a walk around Venice; she went to a couple pastry shops and took some free samples, she always had a sweet tooth. _'I think I'll go and visit Scipio.' _she thought. She could have taken a water bus, but she decided to walk instead. She reached Dottore Massimo's house and just stood there surprised at the house that Scipio lived in, she peered through the window. '_What the heck!' _She thought when she saw that he had a waiting room in his own house! She heard a creaking of a window opening, she slipped into the space that was between his house and the building beside it, it was too small to be an alley, Sakura was just able to fit in. "What are you doing here?!" Scipio had opened the window

"I came to tell you about Signora Spavento's house." Sakura said

"Are the others with you?"

"No they're still watching the house."

"Well, do you want to come in?"

"Sure." Sakura had come out from the small space between the buildings. Scipio tossed a rope out his window, for her to climb up, "Wouldn't it be easier to go through the door?"

"My father can't know your here."

"Okay." she grabbed the rope, it looked like it had been used a lot by Scipio, it was coming undone. When Sakura got up to the window, Scipio pulled her in, "Nice room."

"Thanks. Sometimes, I feel like I want to runaway though."

"Why?"

"My father is always yelling at me because to him, I'm just distraction or a disappointment."

"Then why don't you runaway. You can come and stay with us at the Stella."

"That would be the first place he would look for me." he grabbed a sheet of paper and put it back into a binder that was sitting on his chair, "Hide."

"Huh?"

"Somebody is coming. Hide under my bed." Scipio pushed her to the other side of his bed and lifted up the sheets that lay on his bed so she could go under. A knock, hit the door so hard that Sakura jumped and hit her head on the bed frame.

"Hello, Scipio." a familiar voice came from the door

"Hello Mark." Scipio sighed and turned his back to him

"I know your little secret." Mark said while wiping dust off of his new suit

"What do you mean?" Scipio asked turning to face him again

"You are the Thief Lord." he had a smile on his face that seemed so arrogant

"I don't know what you are talking about." Scipio said with a straight face. Sakura was listening in to every word, and cursing Mark in her head.

"Don't play games with me. I have seen you sneak out at night wearing that long black jacket and stupid mask with the long nose." he took a few steps forward, trying to intimidate Scipio like his father did, "If you don't want you little secret to get out, you are going to do me a little favor."

"That's blackmail!" Scipio said clenching his fist, knowing that if his father found out it would lead to the Stella and everyone would be sent to an orphanage

"You do want to keep your secret do you? Well, what I want you to do for me is kidnap, a girl named Sakura. She is at the orphanage you and your father adopted me at."

"But that's a person, not an object." Scipio said trying to hold himself back

"Stealing is stealing; I want it to look like I saved her from you, so that she will finally like me." Mark said while looking at the ceiling, he had always been the dramatic type.

Sakura jumped out from under the bed. Mark took a step back once he saw her, she went over and grabbed him by the top of his shirt and threw him against the wall still holding onto him. "Now you listen and try not to forget you blackmailing, little weasel!" Sakura had not realized that when she threw Mark against the wall she made a huge thud noise, "If you say anything about Scipio being the Thief Lord, I will come back here and hurt you some much that you are gonna wish you were dead! Got it?!"

"Y-Yes." Mark just stared at her with his mouth with open, he smelled of wine and cheese. She let go of him and watched him run out the door like the weasel he really was.

"You have to get out of here, now." Scipio walked over to Sakura

"Okay." she replied

"Try not to say anything about this."

"I know. Apparently you are not in the city to the others." she said climbing out the window

"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. There is a private detective after Prosper and Bo." he said hanging out the window

"Okay. I'll keep an eye out for him. Or her."

"Him."

"Okay bye." she said running off too find to others, the pathway was really busy now. The afternoon was always busy, even if it was a school day for kids. All the tourists going around to all the souvenir shops, she was making her way through all the people, until she accidentally bumped into someone. "Oh, I'm so sorry." Sakura said picking up his briefcase

"Watch were you going!" the old man snapped her

"Jeez! I said I was sorry." she gave him a look the he obviously didn't like

"Shouldn't you be in school instead of running around the city like a thief?" an old lady came out from behind the old man. When she saw her red hair she knew who it was, Max and Esther Hartleib. She ran for it thinking that they would follow her _'Every thing is exactly what the book said it was'_ she thought slowing down her pace. She got back to the others when they were talking to a blond haired lady at the book stand they were at, "Their not disturbing me." the blond haired lady

"Very well Signora, if you say so." the man at the book stand took the book from the lady and left them alone

"So, what are you up to?" she asked

"None of your business." Riccio said stuffing his face with cake

"Hey, don't be so rude." Sakura nudged Riccio; he gave her a rude look in return

"Sorry Signora, he's just a little upset." Hornet apologized

"Why don't you go on an adventure?" the blond haired lady asked

"We're not allowed to do anything without permission from my mother." Riccio said in an innocent child voice

"Well that's too bad. I was always getting into trouble when I was your age, the mystery of the unknown." she smiled down at them

"That's what my mother used to say when she was alive." Prosper looked her in the eyes with a surprised look on his face

"You must miss her very much." the lady's face wasn't so bright after she heard her say that

"Yes, I do."

"Nice meeting you." the lady walked off, Riccio was watching her camera that swung around her neck. When that was over they all looked at Sakura wondering where she had gone.

"Where did you go?" Hornet asked

"Just on a little walk, I ran into you aunt and uncle." Sakura looked at Prosper with a stern face

"Where?!" he whipped his head around to see if they were around

"Don't worry, they didn't follow me." Sakura put her hand on his shoulder to calm him down, a heavy wind started to pickup, and that's when they decided to go back to the Stella. The wind blew papers every where, once they got to the door of the Stella they rang the bell several times, until Mosca finally came and opened the door.

"About time! Where were gonna be blown away any minute if you didn't open that door." Riccio snapped

"Sorry, I was working on my movie." Mosca apologized

"Is it close to being finished?" Sakura asked taking off her jacket

"Almost. Anyways I have to finish the projector first." Mosca said holding back the curtain for them

"Hey, your bandage, it needs to be changed." Hornet pointed out then went up to her room to get something to wrap around Sakura's arm. Sakura took the fabric, it had some more blood on it from when they left the Stella to go and watch the house. Hornet came down with a fresh piece of cloth. "Thanks." Sakura took the cloth from Hornet and wrapped around her arm then tucked the end in to hold it there.

"How did that really happen?" Riccio asked with a suspicious look on his face.

"I already told you, I can't remember." Sakura didn't look in Riccio's eyes, afraid that he would know that she was lying. Riccio didn't ask her anymore, and left her to herself thinking on the theater seat. Thinking about how the break in would go.


	10. A Caught Snoop and Truth Told

Chapter 10

The next day Scipio didn't here a word from Mark, what so ever. He didn't even make eye contact with him a breakfast; he was thankful that Sakura came out from under the bed and threatened him not to say a word. He had to thank her some how, not just in words, but as a gift. That day, he took some of his father's money without him noticing him, and went out to a jewelry store. He looked and looked until he found the perfect gift, it was a gold necklace with a heart in it, and in that heart, and there was a pink crystal. He went in and bargained price with the shop keeper, Scipio got the price he wanted as usual. He couldn't wait until he could give it to Sakura, he couldn't say it but, he loved her. He hoped that the necklace would let her know how he felt. When he got home his father was waiting for him at the door, Scipio's heart stopped beating thinking that he found out that he took some money.

"Scipio, I have some quests from Rome coming today, and I expect you not to disturb them, they have a daughter about the same age as Mark, I want you to leave her alone. Mark will be showing her around the house, got it?" his father was so serious that Scipio couldn't breathe for a second

"Yes father." he said. His father left him alone after that, and Scipio continued going up to his room. He hated his father, he was always being yelled at by him, before he got to his room, he saw his cat wondering around in a strange way. He picked up his cat to make sure it wasn't under weight, "You look fine." he said to the cat. But he knew that something wasn't right, it probably wasn't a big deal, but he was still worried. He went through his mansion looking for his father, when he found him he was in his study with another person talking about an article of some sort. "Father I think the cat's sick." he said petting the cat on the back of its head

"Scipio, how often do I have to tell you to knock." the Dottore just stared at his with disappointment, but the look the other man gave him was quite strange, "Sorry, Signor?"

"Getz. Well as I was saying, there are many Venetian stories on theaters, many involving the Stella." Signor Getz turned his head to look at Scipio, trying to tell him that he knew his little secret too

"Ah, my guests from Rome have just arrived." he said turning to face Signor Getz, "Alright, you have my permission. Scipio will you find this gentlemen the key. Sent me a copy of your article as soon as it is published. My son here will get you the key."

But Scipio had no intension of getting him the key what so ever. "Hey where do you think you're going? To warn you pick pocket girl friend, I had to spend five hours with the _polizia _because of her." he walked towards him, but Scipio ran for it, "Hey wait!"

*****

"Hmm." Sakura sat on one of the theater chairs with a sleeping kitten on her lap

"What is it?" Hornet asked

"I don't know. But something doesn't feel right." Sakura replied scratching the kitten between the eyes. Suddenly there was banging on the door that they usually came in.

"Let me in!" a voice came from outside

"Hey, I'll go see who it is." Prosper said heading towards the door

"I'll come to." Mosca followed

"Hey you stay here!" Prosper pointed a Bo who was trying to made his way through the theater seats. Prosper and Mosca mad their way to the door not knowing what to do. They unlocked everything and looked outside to see Scipio. "Scipio!?" Prosper looked down and up to see what he was wearing

"Who else do you think it was?!" Scipio snapped running into the theater

"You said you were going away!" Mosca ran after him.

"Get a load of you!" Hornet stood there smiling at the clothes he was wearing, he wasn't dressed up as the Thief Lord, Sakura's head was spinning, confused at why he came here dressed like that.

"There's no time to explain, we have to get out of here, the snoop has found out." Scipio was breathing heavily, he looked at Sakura, and he saw that she had a worried look on her face

"How did the snoop find out?" Riccio said with wide eyes

"Where are we supposed to go?" Mosca asked. There was a slight pause.

"We're staying right here." Hornet took control. Everybody looked at her like she was crazy. She explained a plan very quickly and every body agreed. Time felt like it had stopped for Sakura, waiting for the detective to come was so boring. She felt bad because of what she could have done for everyone here. Knowing what was going to happen, she could have helped so much. But now she had to focus on what was happening. Everybody could hear the lock on the front doors on the Stella being opened and removed. Scipio and Sakura looked at each other, knowing that if the detective got away, they would all have to move again. No other place was perfect for them to stay.

"You think that just because I'm a grown up I'm no good at playing hide-n-seek? Well sorry to disappoint you but I just happen to be a first class seeker." he looked through the theater seats expecting to find somebody. "You can hide forever you know! What are you gonna live on? Petty thievery?"

"Hey, Victor!" Bo poked his head put from behind the curtain. "Have you got a gun?"

"Of course." Victor put his hand into his coat, "Want to see it?"

"Sure. It's probably a fake one." Bo had a childish smile on his face like he did every time Scipio came back from one of his raids

"Okay smarty pants." Victor pulled out his hand with two fingers together like a child would do. He walked over to the stage, when Bo popped his head back behind the curtain. Victor lifted himself on the stage with some trouble and went through the curtain to find Bo.

"Now!" Scipio yelled out. Right after that everybody jumped on Victor and took him down. He struggled to get out but four kids and three teenagers were too much for him. In a matter of seconds Victor was all tied up. Scipio came up to Victor's face, "That should teach you not to cross swords with the Thief Lord." he said with a grin on his face

"You! You brat..." Before Victor could finish what he was saying, Scipio stuffed a rag into his mouth

"Ask him how he found us!" Riccio said to Scipio

"Why? He'll just tell us lies." Scipio said

"Just throw him into the canal then." Riccio said with a mischievous grin on his face. Victor looked up at Riccio with a sound that sounded like he was trying to say 'What'.

"Don't do that!" Sakura looked at Riccio with a small smile on her face, "Well not yet. We should have some fun and see if he knows where Prospers Aunt and Uncle are. Pay them a little visit."

"Sure, we can leave that a little gift or two." Mosca said with a mischievous look

"What a minute." Riccio got up and walked over to Sakura, "I not sure if I can trust you though."

"What do you mean?" Sakura got up off an old box

"You said that you couldn't remember how you got that cut on your arm, I don't believe you." Riccio glared at her, "I overheard you talking to Scipio in the kitchen that night. You said something about a Dark Angel, what were you talking about?"

"Riccio that's enough!" Scipio got up and turned Riccio to face him. But Riccio gave him a dirty look after that

"No." Sakura said she was looking to the ground; Scipio looked at her with a worried look on his face, "I think they should know."

Scipio went over to Sakura "What are you doing?" he said in a hushed tone

"I know what I'm doing. Don't worry; your secret is still safe with me." Sakura whispered so quietly Scipio was just able to hear it

"So, what was with that Dark Angel person?" Riccio demanded

"Okay, you might want to go and sit down for this." Sakura stepped forward

"No. Right here, right now." Riccio crossed his arms. Scipio glared at him, all Riccio did was lift an eyebrow. Sakura sat down back on the box and ran her fingers through her hair; then she began her story. As she told every body about her world and that this world was a book to here. All of their faces were filled with shock, even Victor as shocked. But Scipio just sat, staring at the floor not making a sound. "And so now, the Dark Angel is trying to get a hold of me."

"I don't believe you." Riccio said. Sakura looked up at him glaring, and then he shuffled back a bit

"It's true; I know how Bo and Prosper got here to Venice." Sakura stood up still staring at Riccio, but not glaring

"How did we get here then?" Prosper asked with his head tilted

"Well, Bo was with your aunt and uncle; you were in a boarding school. You went and got Bo then took a train south. When you got into Venice you were on a small boat full of boxes. When you got off, the driver saw you and took your bike, and then you ran off carrying Bo."

"Is it true Prop?" Hornet turned around to see Prospers face

"Yeah! It's all true. But how?!" Prosper just starred at Sakura with a shocked expression on his face

"I already told you, this world is a book to me."

"Humph." Riccio got up and left shaking his head, and purposely bumping into Victor. Sakura stood there looking through the curtain to see Riccio going up to his room. She sighed and looked at the others, but they avoided eye contact with her. One by one they left Scipio and Sakura, still not looking at them. Bo was the last to go, but before he jumped off the stage, he turned to look at Sakura as if trying to say something, but he left.

"I shouldn't have said anything." Sakura tried to leave, but Scipio placed his on her shoulder

"No, tell everybody was the right thing to do. I was wrong thinking that you should have kept it a secret." Scipio brought her around to face her

"But they way they acted. What if they treat me like that all the time?"

"That won't happen, I promise it." Scipio was holding onto her shoulders. All she did was look at the ground; her body froze when she realized that he was hugging her. She didn't think at all, all she did was hug him back too.

"I think you may want to get out of here. The others may get suspicious 'cause of your clothes." Sakura uncoiled from him

"Yeah. Well," he paused and looked around, "you want to go for dinner of something?"

"Are you asking me to go out on a date with you?" Sakura stood back with a crooked smile

"Uh, yes. I guess I am." he returned a small smile

"Yeah, I would like very much." she smiled as if nothing had happened earlier. Suddenly they heard a groan for Victor, still laying there tied up. Sakura walked over to him and kneeled down, "Hope you're comfortable, because we are going to drag you all the way up to your new room. The projector room. Oh yeah, if you ever do get out of here, don't mention a word about me being from another world, or else I will come after you. I won't kill you, you'll just wish you never said anything."

"Well, I gonna go now." Scipio said

"Okay. See ya tomorrow night then."

"Okay. Bye." Scipio turned and headed for the door

"Bye." Sakura whispered and went up to her room, avoiding the others like they wanted. But hopefully not forever...


	11. First Date

Chapter 11

Night took forever to pass by. Her dreams seemed to never end, but she had no problem with it. All she saw was a night sky full of shooting stars, and her feelings were marvelous. But when morning had come, the air had smoke in it. Sakura jumped out of bed and rushed down to the kitchen, covering her nose from the smell. "What's going on?!" She yelled

"Uh, I was cooking?" Riccio was standing at the oven trying to cool the element down by blowing on it and holding the pan up that had egg in it. But when he turned around, his face went blank as if Sakura wasn't supposed to be there. In seconds everybody was down outside the kitchen looking at Riccio to see what he was doing, and pretending that Sakura wasn't there.

"Riccio! What are you doing? Trying to burn the place down?" Prosper scolded. He was always trying to be the mature one when Scipio wasn't there

"You guys were still asleep! And I was hungry! You try dragging that fat snoop up to the projector room and going to sleep on an empty stomach!" Riccio stood on his toes trying to intimidate Prosper. They kept on bickering about Riccio's cooking, when everyone went off to get something warm on, it was in the middle of fall, and the heating system in the Stella wasn't that good.

"Hornet?" Sakura spun around and caught Hornets arm, "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Uh. Sure" Hornet was still not looking at Sakura. They both went up to Hornet's room, or library if you prefer since it was always full of books. The floor was cold against their feet, but once they got to Hornet's room, both their feet met a warm blanket that was like a carpet for her, the red carpet that covered the ground of the Stella wasn't enough, "Um. What is it?"

"Last night, I felt like I was suddenly not accepted anymore. I don't blame you for not acting like that but," She paused to take a breath in, "I just don't want it to stay like that."

"Okay, I know you are human and that your world is like this world but..." Hornet sat down on her bed that was surrounded by books of all colors and sizes

"You feel that I can't be trusted?" Sakura sat down across from Hornet

"No, it's just that. You kept it a secret from us. So because of that, you may be keeping other secrets too."

Sakura froze and thought what she was going to say, "Well, everybody has a secret or two. But my secret was something that nobody thought would exist, I was just afraid what would happen if I said anything."

"Well, since you told us the truth, and now that you said that, I think everything will be fine between us." Hornet smiled and picked up a book called 'Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe'.

"We have that book, in my world." Sakura pointed at the book in Hornet's hands

"Really?"

"Yep. It's a popular book."

"Yeah, it came out in theaters, but I didn't get to see it." Hornet frowned

"Oh, well it was a good movie. I saw the new one and the old one. The new witch is different than the old one." Sakura smiled and was happy that she had talked to Hornet. Eventually Hornet and Sakura left to help Riccio with cooking, but Riccio was still ignoring Sakura. The day took forever to pass by, Sakura borrowed a book from Hornet trying to pass the time, but she finished it in a few hours. It was noon when she put the book back in Hornets room, but now she figured out that she could only get to different world by reading aloud. She tried to sleep but she just lay there with her eyes wide open.

Irritated, she got up and picked out the clothes she was going to wear that night. She couldn't decide. The clothes that she had were not that good for going out on a date, but she chose the best of what she had. A white zip-up hoody, jeans, and her black boots. It was good enough, even if she would be kinda cold.

Sakura went on with her day that was going by too slow for her. Prosper, Hornet and Riccio went out to watch the house they were going to raid. Mosca, Bo and Sakura stayed and worked on the projector. Bo was just sitting there staring at Victor with and was thinking, his face always showed how he was feeling. Mosca was fine with Sakura being around, but was still a bit nervous. "Do you need any help?" Bo asked Mosca

"No, I think we may be done for today." He said putting down a small screwdriver

"Yeah, I don't think we can do anything without parts." Sakura stretched her arms up to the ceiling. They all left one by one, but before Sakura left, Victor said "Hey, wait a minute."

"What?" Sakura came over to sit in front of him

"I don't believe that you are from another world." Victor said with a small smile on his face

"Why? I know how you met Prosper and Riccio."

"How?" he said with an even bigger smile on his face that had disbelief all over it

"Well, Prosper and Riccio were walking past a bakery. You only noticed that they were there when Riccio called Prosper back over to the bakery." Sakura chuckled, "You went over to them after you put on your fake moustache and asked Prosper 'Your name is Prosper isn't it?'. Prosper ran off then Riccio hit you in the stomach with his head and ran off."

Victor's mouth was wide open and trying to say something. But nothing came out.

"Well I gotta go now so I hope you like your stay here." she got up and left Victor alone still with his mouth open.

They day still took awhile to go by; Sakura took a shower, and then got dressed at about 3:30. Finally Scipio came at around 4:15, wearing his usual clothes, black and white stripped shirt with jeans and a belt. It was so quiet it was like he never came in, but Sakura noticed him come in. She was standing at the rail of her room when she noticed he slipped through the curtains and snuck over to Bo. Before Bo noticed he was there, Scipio lifted him up into the air trying to be playful. Bo let out a small playful scream when he felt his feet leaving the ground. As Scipio put Bo down he looked up to find Sakura staring at him with a small smirk on her face. He smiled back with the same warmth her smile gave off, Prosper came rushing over to see if Bo was alright, and Bo was laughing and asking if Scipio could do it again. But he said no. As usual Scipio had a bag over his shoulder full of stolen goods from the adults. Sakura made her why down to see Scipio, trying not to blush at the fact she was going on a date with him.

"Hey, Scip." She greeted him

"Hey," he continued to smile, "I did a small raid last night. There are a couple decent items there, but they should be enough to top up the money box."

"Ha. I bet that fat, old, slime ball is gonna try to sell us short again." Riccio laughed

"Well, all Prosper has to do is set the price a bit higher than what we want. That Barbarossa should raise his price a little." Sakura tried to help

"I don't think that is a bad idea." Prosper agreed. Sakura was happy that he didn't treat her like she wasn't there

"Yeah, it does sound okay." Riccio still wasn't looked at Sakura. But she didn't care what he thought now.

"Okay then. We'll go with Sakura's plan then." Scipio put all the goods back in the bag and handed it to Prosper, "I promised Sakura that I would show her around Venice again."

"Yeah, I swear! If I go out alone, I'll be lost in five minutes. Even if I was already told where everything is." It was obviously a lie, but nobody thought that because they were all laughing

"Let's hurry before it gets dark. I don't want you to fall behind." Scipio laughed quietly heading towards the door. Sakura followed shaking her head, as if she was actually annoyed by what Scipio said. They both got out of the Stella and started laughing quietly. They went to the San Marco first so that if the others were following them, they could quickly get away by going through the crowds of tourists.

"Were to now Mr. Tour guide?" Sakura said trying not to fall over with all the people pushing through

"I have to go back to my house and get changed." Scipio looked around

"Why?"

"You really think I'm going out in this?"

"Well if you want to go change it's fine with me."

"Good. I also have a surprise for you."

"A surprise?"

"Yeah, come on." Scipio took her hand and lead her out of the crowd and through the alleys too his house. Scipio never looked back at Sakura while they were weaving through the crowds of people. The cold air nipped at both of their faces, but neither of them cared about that. Scipio kept on pulling on her arm. If he didn't stop soon, her shoulder would pop out of place. They finally stopped at a giant house that reflected against the water like it was only something you would see in a dream. The yellow paint looked as if it was glowing; the black paint on the big doors was pealing off.

"So how do we get up?" Sakura looked around for the rope Scipio used

"This." Scipio pulled out a rope that looked new and unused from a the small alley next to the house

"Oh, okay." Sakura looked into the window, "Isn't you father home?"

"No, he has work today. He won't be home for a few hours." he threw the rope that now had hook on it up to the balcony that could barely fit one person, "So we're safe."

Scipio was the first one up to the balcony, he got up there and opened the French doors to his room and waved Sakura to come up. She did what he told her to do without even thinking about it. When she reached the rail Scipio was holding out his hand for her to take. "You're a lot better at climbing ropes than I am." She took his hand

"Well, you're better at some stuff." Scipio pulled her over the rail and led her into his room. She could never get used to how big it was.

"What kind of stuff?"

"Well, you can jump from roof top to roof top without hesitation." he said going over to his desk that was next to the balcony doors and took out a dark blue velvet box, "And you have a special power."

Sakura sighed, "What's that?"

"Close your eyes." she did. Her heart was pounding from the excitement was whirling around in her head, "Open."

There in the box lay the gold heart necklace he bought for her, the crystal sparkled in the light. Sakura's mouth dropped, "Wow." she whispered and took the box from him. Scipio laughed quietly still smiling.

"Do you like it?" What a stupid question. She looked up and just looked at him forgetting how to speak,

"Uh, yeah! I love it!" He took the box and took the necklace out and went behind Sakura. He brought it over her head and wrapped it around her neck and clipped the ends together, she turned around and looked him in the eyes, "Thank you so much." and hugged him.

"You're welcome."

"Well, I'll wait outside while you change" she said when she unwrapped her arms from his neck

"Okay." Scipio went to a door that seemed to lead to his closet and opened it. There was a nice new pair of jeans with a tuxedo jacket with a tan colored shirt. Sakura continued to out towards the rope hanging from the balcony. In a second she was down on the ground, she didn't even bother using the rope, her feet hurt from how high she had jumped from, but she didn't care. The one she loved, was also in love with her, that was all that mattered right then.

Scipio was changing as fast as he could, he didn't want to stay away from Sakura right now. He was overwhelmed that he was a thief, and he had his heart stolen from him, but at least the right person had stolen it. Sakura, her name rung in his ears for a time that seemed like forever. He was all dressed, and quickly threw his shoes on then headed for the balcony. "Done!"

"Okay." Sakura looked up at him, as he climbed down the rope. When he got down to the bottom he threw the rope around a bit to unhook it from the rail, but it didn't work. "Will this work?" Sakura handed him a broom stick handle.

He poked at the hook for awhile, when it finally came off; it made a huge clank sound when it hit the ground. He quickly dragged the rope into the alley with the broom stick handle. He came back over to Sakura holding his arm out like a gentleman. She took it laughing quietly. Scipio was going through the alleys still holding onto Sakura. They took a _vaporetti _through _canal grande _and then took a gondola to a restaurant that looked expensive. There was a red carpet leading to the door and waiters at the door with white cloths hanging over their arms, Scipio got out of the gondola first and put out his hand to help Sakura out, again she took his hand without thinking. As they walked down the carpet to the doors of the restaurant two other people came out complaining about the food and the wine, the lady had red hair the was obviously dyed because you could see little gray hairs under the red, and the man had gray hair combed back and was wearing a gray business suit. The old lady didn't watch where she was going and rammed her shoulder into Sakura.

"Watch it!" the old lady snapped at her

"Why don't you?" Sakura spat back at her and continued to walk with Scipio. The old lady was baffled at how Sakura had spoken to her. The old man started to pull her along away from Sakura and Scipio and into the gondola that sat at the edge of the canal. "She looks familiar. But I can quite tell who she is." Sakura whispered

"Probably another rich tourist thinking that she is the Queen of England or something." Scipio whispered back

"Yeah, probably." But Scipio didn't hear her; he was too busy finding the reservations that he booked for them. The waiter had slick black hair and a french moustache. He looked at Scipio as if he was too young to be going to a fancy restaurant like this one. But all Scipio did was look back with the most mature face Sakura had ever seen; the waiter looked at her and led them to their table without a sound. The table had a white cloth over it and there was a small candle in the middle of the table the looked like it had been burning for awhile, the seats had white cushions and oak legs. Sakura looked around, awed at what stood before her. When the waiter placed the menus down on the table he left without even asking them if they wanted drinks. Scipio pulled out a chair for Sakura to sit down, again acting like a gentleman. Sakura looked around surprised at what she was seeing, all the door frames had white curtains, the walls were a beautiful dark red, and the windows looked out onto the Grand Canal with the setting sun reflecting off the water. The music was soothing, each note was a perfect sound that if you just sat and listened to it for long enough, it would sing you to sleep.

"So, what do you think of this place?" Scipio asked sitting down in his own chair

"It's so...Wow! I think I dressed too casual."

"Don't worry, you look great." The waiter brought them some water and left again, not even saying a word.

"Thank you." she said looking at the waiter then looking back at Scipio, "Really?"

"Yes." Scipio took a sip from his water then checked his menu, Sakura did the same. They had decided their meals Scipio had to ask the waiter to come over to order. Scipio had a steak teriyaki, while Sakura had shrimp ravioli. The waiter when to the back of the kitchen giving the order to the chiefs, a couple minutes later a chief and the rude waiter popped their heads around the corner to see Scipio and Sakura. They were talking and not sensing that they were being watched. Suddenly there was yelling from the chief, Sakura and Scipio whipped their heads to face the loud voice.

"What are you saying?!" the chiefs voice tried to whisper, but everyone in the restaurant could still hear him, "That is the son of Dottore Massimo! You are so lucky I'm not telling our boss what you wanted to do!" The chief dragged the waiter into the kitchen muttering under his breath. Sakura laughed quietly and looked back at Scipio.

"Wow, your father must have come here quite a few times for the chief to be acting like that." she combed her fingers through her bangs

"Well, he has been here a few times. I just can't believe that he is respected by other people." Scipio's face went serious

"What do you mean?"

"Uh...It's nothing." He looked down at his drink; his finger was sliding around the top of the glass. Sakura tilted her head, curiosity filled her head slowly, and she knew that she would find out sooner or later. But she decided not to talk about it for now. The time ticked by, it felt like each second was a whole hour. It felt very uncomfortable, Sakura started to feel bad for asking him what he meant by 'I just can't believe that he is respected by other people'. Finally Scipio spoke, he apologized for the awkward silence, their conversations started to pick up again. Soon they began to forget about why they stopped talking. When their food came they had a new waiter, he too had slick black hair, but no mustache, and he had a welcoming smile on his face. Scipio and Sakura both thanked the waiter, and started to eat. The food tasted so good compared to what Hornet usually cooked back at the Stella. Scipio seemed to be used to this food, he probably had steak a million times.

"This is delicious! I've had shrimp before, but it never tasted this good." Sakura said after swallowing

"That's good." Scipio smiled taking another drink.

Sakura was so happy, she never wanted this day to end, but sadly it did. After they had dessert, Scipio paid the bill with his cash. Sakura took a peek at the bill, her mouth dropped when she saw the price. It was over 150 Euros. Scipio took Sakura's hand to get her attention; he put the money with the bill and took Sakura out of the restaurant.

"Did you like it?" Scipio asked, he guided Sakura through the streets that where embraced in darkness.

"Yeah, it was great. I never thought that I would ever eat at a place like that." Sakura looked up at Scipio; he was a few inches taller than her. She always wanted to be taller; she was older that most of her friends back in her world by about a month or two, but they were all taller than her. It made her mad when they all said she was their 'little sister'. But now that didn't matter so much because of her new life.

"Well, that's not all."

"Huh?"

"Just wait. You'll see." he placed his arm around her shoulders and gave her a playful one armed hug.

"But shouldn't we get back to the others soon. We said we would be back before dark."

"I don't think they'll be worried. They should know that Venice seems to have more magic at night." Scipio stopped and turned Sakura to face a beautiful boat that was laced in lights. Sakura glided up to it speechless. She gently slid her fingers along the edge of the boat as if it would disappear when she touched it.

"You went all out! This is amazing; you didn't have to do all this for me."

"I know, but I wanted to." he jumped into the boat and held out his hand for Sakura to take...

Sorry I haven't been writing for awhile, but I have exams to study for and I've just been busy with that. Please write a review!!!!


	12. Unknown Light

Chapter 12

Sorry I haven't been writing for awhile, just getting ready for school and other stuff.

Enjoy ^_^

Sakura was unsure about taking his hand and going into the boat, but she decided to take his hand. She jumped into to the boat expecting everything to be okay, but it wasn't. The boat started to sway, the two of them both lost their balance and without thinking, they both pulled each other trying to keep their balance. Sakura looked around to see if they had stopped moving. When she brought her head around, Scipio's face was only a few inches away from her face. They both turned red; quickly they both let go of each other and tried to say some thing

"Uh... I should..." Scipio pointed at the wheel of the boat trying to speak without sounding stupid

"Uh... Yeah, you should... Go and... And..." Sakura quickly pointed to the wheel trying not to look directly at Scipio, she was completely embarrassed. She wanted to go and hide away, but she didn't. She went to go sit down still not looking Scipio straight in the face.

Scipio went to the steering wheel looking like a tomato, his face was red!!! He fumbled with the keys for awhile, when he finally started the boat; he quickly turned his head to see Sakura, if she was also embarrassed like he was. But when she lifted her head to meet his eyes, they both quickly looked away. _'I'm acting like a child right now!'_ he thought as he brought the boat away from the side walk and to the water.

Sakura looked at the walkway that was leaving her. _'If I jump now, I could still make it.'_ she thought, _'Wait a minute! What am I thinking! Running away from Scipio after he did all of this for me!' _But she still had apart of her that wanted to get out of there and hide away.

Her mind started to calm down the farther they got from land, they still didn't say a word until Scipio turned off the engine, but left the keys in the ignition. He came to sit across from her like he did in the restaurant.

"Uh. Beautiful night isn't it?" he asked trying to break the silence

"Yeah, it is." she had a small smile on her face like a six year old girl crushing on a boy

There was another small pause, "Hey, if you feel uncomfortable right now and want to go back, its okay with me." Scipio offered

"No, no. I'm okay. Let's just forget that happened so that we don't sit here in silence all night."

"Okay. Well, what do you want to do?"

"I don't know, talk, and watch the stars, something so we don't have to just sit here."

"Okay, one thing that I've been meaning to ask."

"Okay."

"What was your life like?"

"My life was good; I had many friends and a lot of family. Some parts of it was boring, like doing the same thing each day." she looked up at the stars, the sky seemed to be glowing with fire flies, "And, even though I miss my family, it doesn't feel like I'm missing anything when I'm gone from my home."

"Well, that's good that you're not too homesick. Sometimes I wish that I could just get away from my home and never have to go back."

"Why don't you runaway then? You can stay at the Stella. The others would be more than happy."

"I can't, my father is respected my many people that would be more than willing to help him find me, and he also knows that the Stella was my favorite theater that he owned, that would be the first place he would look for me."

"Well, we could find a..."

"Sakura. Don't worry about me. I can handle my father."

"Okay."

*****

Back at the Stella, the others were talking away at how Scipio wasn't only just showing Sakura around the city.

"There is no way that Scip can say that he doesn't like Sakura." Riccio chanted

"More like love!!!" Bo came running in with some chocolate in his hand, "I got chocolate! I got chocolate!"

"Bo! What did I tell you about having sweets at night? You know that you fly through the roof every time you have chocolate at night." Prosper chased Bo trying to get the chocolate from him, but Bo was quicker than him. Bo jumped all over the place without stopping once. He started to slow down, right when Prosper was behind him, Bo fell asleep. But before he fell to the ground, Prosper caught him under his shoulder

"Has that happened before?" Hornet called from her room, she had been watching Bo run around

"Yeah, you should have seen him a couple years ago after Halloween." Prosper carried his brother to his room

"Well, if Bo knows that Scip and Sakura are in love, then it must be true." Mosca added

"Yeah, it also shows because at night Sakura sometimes mutters Scip's name in her sleep." Hornet came down with a book in her hand

"Really?" Riccio said wide eyed. They all continued to talk about how Scipio and Sakura loved each other, they all seemed to be over the fact that Sakura was from another world. They all began to trust her again, and if she ever was in trouble, they would try to help her...

*****

"Hey look! A shooting star!" Sakura pointed up to the sky

"It's probably just a satellite." Scipio chuckled. They both lay on the floor of the boat together watching the stars, pointing out what the stars looked like.

"You realize that if you don't stop acting like an adult, I will throw you out of this boat and drive away laughing." Sakura looked at him with a small smile on her face.

"What?!" Scipio looked back with a shocked look on his face

"I'm joking!" she laughed and gave him a little shove on the shoulder, "But still. Your fifteen years old. You should still be acting like a kid, not an adult."

Scipio frowned for a moment then spoke up again, "But your fourteen, so you should be acting like the kid, not me!"

"Ha! Yeah right. Women mature faster than men."

"That's not true."

"It is! My grandfather still acts like a child! My little brother and his cousin will call him a chicken or punk, and then he will chase them, tickle them, or anything else childish like that."

"Well then. If you don't want me to grow up then I won't." Scipio lied, and had a fake smile on his face. Sakura inched closer to him to keep warm, and still continued to watch the stars.

Neither of them talked for quite awhile. Talking would just ruin the moment. The night sky seemed to be overflowing with stars at that moment. _'Everything is perfect right now.' _Sakura thought, she closed her eyes hoping that she would never wake up from this night, even when the bright sun rose from beyond the buildings of the city above water.

Suddenly, the boat rocked forcing Scipio and Sakura wake up from their moment. They looked at each other then got up to look at the water. The boat rocked violently. Something was defiantly hitting the boat. Scipio and Sakura both looked over the same edge to see if they could find what was hitting them. In a blink of an eye, a strange shape was now circling the boat. It was skinny, white and had long black fins coming out from its back. Sakura leaned forward to get a better look at it, but when she did. The strange fish came up and grabbed Sakura and pulled her into the water! It defiantly wasn't a fish.

"Sakura!!!" Scipio exclaimed trying to get her back into the boat, but he wasn't quick enough.

Sakura hit and kicked to get out of the grasp of what ever was trying to get her. When she opened her eyes, all she saw was darkness around her. The thing that had pulled her out of the boat was gone. She swam back to the surface, she had been taken down quite far, she didn't realize how far she had gone down until she had gotten back up to the surface. Gasping for air she looked around to find Scipio panicking whipping his head around.

"Sakura! Are you okay?! What happened?!" he said grabbing an ore and holding out for Sakura to take

"I don't know, but that thing must have swam off." she took the ore as Scipio started to pull her in. But before she could grab the edge of the boat, something grasped her foot and pulled her down. Scipio cried out Sakura's name again, but she couldn't hear him. She opened her eyes again, to see the white creature facing her; she suddenly realized who it was. The fins turned out to be wings that were much bigger than the person who had them. She felt an icy cold hand around her neck, slowly she was being choked. She looked up to see Scipio's boat above them. Scipio quickly took off his jacket and jumped in. Sakura looked up to see Scipio jumping in to save her. But before she was saved, she felt her body getting colder; she saw strange blue lights leaving her body. Her eyes began to close, the last thing she saw was Scipio coming down to get her out of the Dark Angel's grasp.

_'What the heck?!' _Scipio drifted above Sakura watching the light leave her and go into the Dark Angel. In a flash Scipio pulled Sakura from the Dark Angel. The light disappeared, Sakura was in Scipio's arms, and the Dark Angel was furious. She came up to attack Scipio, but before she could, Scipio kicked her in the face and swam back up to the surface. As their faces came up and out of the water Scipio gasped for air, but Sakura didn't, she was only taking small useless breaths. Her body was nothing, no movement what so ever. Scipio swam to the edge of the boat with his arm wrapped around Sakura's waist tugging her with him. The cold water stung their skin like a thousand needles. He grabbed the rim of the boat and switched her around so she was and his back so it would be easier for him to get into the boat. He lifted himself up as quickly as he could without dropping her, afraid that the Dark Angel would be coming after him. When he dragged himself out of the water, Sakura's body was starting to breath properly. Scipio lay Sakura down on the floor and looked at her panicking not knowing what to do,

"Sakura? Sakura!" he started to shove her trying to wake her up. He placed his ear on her chest trying to hear a heart beat, thankfully there was one. But it was small. He got up and looked in all of the seats for a blanket, but there wasn't one. He went back over to Sakura and picked her up. He sat down on the driver's seat with her on his lap using his body to keep her warm. Her body was like ice, as if there was no soul, but just an empty body. But Scipio wouldn't accept that, he knew that she was still alive somehow, but he could be sure. All he knew was that he had to get back to the Stella...

*****

"I wonder why it's taking so long for those two to get back here." Hornet poked her head up from the book she was reading. The cover had silver lettering across the cover saying 'Twilight'.

"I don't know. But I'm sure Scipio wasn't just showing Sakura around the city." Riccio said stuffing his face with a piece of cake. Suddenly there was loud thudding coming from the door. Everybody froze; Prosper looked over the rail of his room to see if any was going to get it. He quickly looked at Bo. He was fast asleep in his red PJ's. Ever so carefully Prosper rose from the bed trying not to wake his little brother from his slumber.

"Why are you guys not answering the door?" He whispered afraid that who ever was outside would hear him

"Come on you guys! Open the door now! I need to get in!" Scipio's voice came from out side. Prosper and Riccio ran over to the door to open it. They were very surprised at the sound of Scipio's voice coming from outside. Prosper fumbled with the locks until Riccio pushed him out of the way right into the wall to unlock the door. Prosper was shocked at how strong Riccio was at that moment, finally when Riccio opened the door, both of their mouths dropped when they saw Sakura in his arms as if she was asleep. Their open mouths curved into smiles, and then high fived.

"I knew it! Scipio does like Sakura!" Riccio laughed knowing that he had been right all along

"Will you two just shut up and get out of the way!" Scipio snapped and rushed pass them. Prosper and Riccio both looked at each other as if it was another person that had just walked through the door.

"Scipio! What going on?" Prosper chased after him

"I don't know how to explain, just get some blankets okay!" He ran into the large theater, everybody stopped what they were doing to get blankets except for Hornet. She ran over with a worried look on her face. She watched Scipio place Sakura down on one of the theater seats

"What happened Scip? What's wrong with Sakura?" Hornet placed her hand on Sakura's head, once she felt her skin she quickly pulled her hand back, "She's ice cold!"

"I know something happened tonight. I'm really worried." Scipio stood up, "Guys hurry up with those blankets!"

"Here you go" Mosca came running over with four blankets on his arms

"Thanks." Scipio quickly started covering Sakura in them hoping that it would help. His heart was racing worried that Sakura's hunter had gotten what she wanted. He would not calm down, he only panicked even more. Afraid that he would lose her…


	13. Awakening

Chapter 13

The night was slow and painful. Waiting for someone to wake up or to find that they didn't make may be the most painful thing some can experience…

Sakura slowly opened her eyes, to meet the familiar ceiling she had been live under ever since her trip to a new world, her mind was not thinking about were she was, because she didn't care were she was because she was alive and alright. Rising from her bed looking around she noticed another person next to her bed sitting on a stool with their head between their hands. Suddenly her mind began to realize that she was alive and not dead. Everything came back to here memory, noticing that Scipio sat next to her on the stool. She looked over at the small watch on Scipio's wrist not making a sound and saw that it said 3:28. Looking out the curtains that seemed to be like doors. The lights were off, so she guessed it was in the morning. Her face was blank as if nothing really mattered still. She looked back at Scipio and smiled. Without a sound she reached over to Scipio and poked him on the head. Only a small moan came from the person that sat next to her. She poked him again but harder expecting him to wake up. Another moan as what Sakura heard.

"Wake up!" She whispered lightly slapping him on the side of the head

"Huh? What the," Scipio rubbed his eyes as he slowly woke up, "Sakura?!" He jumped of the stool and hugged her tight. He was so shocked that he couldn't even tell if it was a dream or reality, he was only glad to see that Sakura was awake. "Oh thank goodness your okay!"

"Yeah, I'm glad too." She tried to steady herself and stop from falling over, "Okay, can't breathe."

"Sorry, I'm just so glad to see that you're awake. I thought that you had…died."

Sakura cringed at what he had said, not realizing that she had almost died "Really? Are you serious? I almost died?!"

"Uh… Yeah, we were on my boat when you were pulled into the water."

"Oh. Well at least I'm alive and okay."

"Yeah well, you should get some rest. You had a rough night."

"But I don't want to, I'm not tired." She lied

"You should though, even if you're not tired." He chuckled, "Anyways, I'll be right here all night. I'm not letting you out of my sight."

"'Common Scipio, I'm fine. Go home and get some rest, I can see that you're tired."

"No."

"Scipio, I'm fine. You need to sleep, don't forget about the wing that the Conte wants. The break in will be soon."

"Yes but…"

"Scipio." She cut him off and looked at him telling him that he wasn't going to get his way

"I just don't want to lose you." Scipio took her hand, "You're the most important person in my life now."

Sakura sat there looking into his eyes not knowing what to say. Scipio's hand was so warm, Sakura wasn't going to let go any time soon.

"It's just…I was so worried and scared." Scipio got up and sat on the bed

"Well, if you want to stay you can. But, that's not what I want." Sakura sat with her legs crossed still in her clothes she wore that night, "But maybe this will change your mind." Sakura placed her hand on his shoulder and leaned in to press her lips against his. His lips were so warm; hers were still like ice even though it had been hours since she had been rapped in blankets. Scipio sat there frozen; he then closed his eyes to savor the moment. Sakura finally leaned back from Scipio still with her eyes closed facing down to the bed that as covered in old, ratty sheets. She was breathing very slowly as if she was a sleep. When she opened her eyes Scipio was staring back at her, not knowing what to say.

"Uh..." he tried to put together a sentence that would make sense

Sakura smiled, "Please, will you go home and get some rest." she lifted her head suggestively, "Or do I have to drag you back to your house?"

"Uh, no. If you want I'll go." Scipio said getting up, "But you have to stay here at the Stella. And get some more rest, its really late."

"Fine. But that doesn't mean that you can go home then come right back in the morning. Stay at your place for tomorrow so that your father doesn't get suspicious."

"'Kay." Scipio grunted as he left Sakura's room.

Sakura was happy that he left, but not so happy at the same time. She felt protected when he was around, but she felt bad for making him stay here all night.

*****

Scipio silently slipped out the door to the Stella not making a sound. He closed the door ever so gently; the handle of the door was like ice, like Sakura's lips. Looking up to the full moon above him, he sighed. He was only thinking of the kiss he had with Sakura. How cold she was. But even though she was cold, he knew that she was okay, he would never let that Dark Angel get to her again.

The streets were empty and cold. The shop windows were locked up for safety. Scipio slowly walked through the alleys to find his way home, the giant house he lived in that none of his friends knew about. He took the rope in the small gap next to his house and threw it up to his balcony and lifted himself up. He threw the rope to the ground once he reached his window. The wind came and whistled through his hair messing it up. He lifted his arm for protection and opened the door to enter his warm room. He looked at the moon again just standing there staring, thinking about what will happen next. If Sakura would be attacked again, but not saved. If her hunter would choose another prey.

Scipio thought _'Does this story have a happy ending?_'


	14. The Truth Untied

Chapter 14

That night Sakura stayed in bed. She had no dreams and felt as if she was missing part of her. Well that was true considering that part of her soul was taken. But it was something else. Something that was very important to her that made everything happen. And she would soon find out what it was…

The next morning everybody was up and waiting for Sakura. Hornet was making a special breakfast. Riccio, Mosca, and Prosper were cleaning up. Bo was still asleep from his little chocolate adventure the night before. But Scipio kept his promise and stayed home. He didn't even get five hours of sleep.

"Ahhh!" Sakura yawned as she slowly woke up. Looking around she noticed all the lights were on and there was a smell of eggs and toast in the air. She didn't hear any voices until she got up and poked her head over the railing

"Hey, guys! She's up!" Prosper called while looking up at her, "You feel okay? You didn't look so good last night."

"I'm fine now. I Hornet cooking eggs and toast?" she asked

"Yep."

"Awesome!" She slowly made her way down the stairs taking care not to fall over. She felt as if she had seen the Stella for the first time, but she knew she hadn't. When she came out into the open, Bo rushed over to her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Are you okay? Did you get hurt? Why were you and Scipio out so long?" Bo attacked Sakura with questions. It took her a few seconds to realise what was going on.

"Yes Bo, I'm fine. I can't remember what happened."

Hornet came running out with a paper plate in her hand, "You're awake! Thank God! What happened? Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Just a little tired, that's all." Sakura said. Hornet passed her the food and rushed back to the kitchen. Sakura went to sit at the table, trying to remember what happened. Suddenly it hit her. _Scipio explained everything. We promised to stay at home. And I kissed… _her thoughts came to a stop.Her heart jumped at the thought. Her face went beat red when she looked down at her feet, and a warm tingly feeling went shooting through her as she went through that memory over and over again. What it felt like. How it happened. She quickly sat down making sure nobody saw her blush.

"Here you go!" Hornet came over with a glass of orange juice.

"Thanks." Sakura took a bite out of her toast. She tried to get past the "certain memory" by thinking of other things. But all she could think of was Scipio. So she gave up and continued to think of last nigh, and how the night was ruined by a certain someone.

As the day went by, the others continued to ask Sakura if she was okay. Of course she said yes even if she didn't feel good since she didn't want any of them to worry. Mosca and Bo went to work on the projector while Prosper, Hornet and Riccio went out to spy on the house. "If only I could be free from this mess." Sakura muttered as she lay in bed for no reason. '_If only I could live my life here and not have someone get in the way of everything._' She thought. Her eyelids began to feel heavy, and she fell asleep once again.

* * *

"Well Bo, I don't think there's much we can do without the right parts." Mosca sighed putting the screwdriver back in his tool box.

"But we have to fix it. What about your movie you were making?" Bo said with sad eyes.

"If we do steal that wing and get our reward, then we might be able to get the parts." Mosca was putting the tool box away.

"Excuse me." Victor said unnoticed under all the rope

"What do you what?" Mosca hissed

"I know a few things about projectors. I can help you fix it, if you untie me." He offered

Mosca was unsure if Victor could be trusted, "Well, even if you do know how to fix this, we don't have enough parts."

"If I've been following correctly, you don't need any new parts."

"I think this would work." Bo jumped, "But I we untie you, will you runaway? I _really_ don't want to live with Esther."

"I give you my word of honour." Victor promised.

For an hour, they worked on the projector, undoing all the work Mosca had done. Soon, Bo began to treat Victor as his friend; even though the others thought Victor was the enemy.

After all Mosca's work had been undone, there was a knock on the door. Bo ran down to see who it was.

"Bo! I told you not to come to the door!" Prosper scolded his brother

"Where's Mosca?" Riccio asked

"He's fixing the projector, with Victor." Bo said with a big smile on his face

"_He's doing what?!" _Riccio shoved Bo out of the way and ran up the stairs as fast as he could. He reached the projector room and began shouting, "Is this your idea of keeping watch! Who said you could untie him!"

"Calm down Riccio!" Mosca said, "He gave us his word of honour that he wouldn't runaway."

"Exactly, Victor's our friend now." Bo explained hoping Riccio would back off

"Friend?! Are you blind you silly baby?"

"I'm not a silly baby and he's my friend so there."

"He's our prisoner! Our enemy! Scip's gonna go ballistic when he finds out about this!"

"Ha. I could tell you a thing or two about your Scipio." Victor smirked

Riccio suddenly jumped forward and punched Victor right in the nose. Both Hornet and Prosper grabbed Riccio by the arms to hold him back. He was still struggling to reach Victor. Bo handed Victor a tissue.

"What's going on! I was sleeping." Sakura came up. She saw Victor was rubbing his nose and Riccio and being held back, "Uh. I'm guessing you three just got back and Riccio is upset that Victor isn't tied up."

"Yep." Mosca answered

"Well, I could tell you the answers to all these riddles, but I don't suppose you'd believe me." Victor had the same smirk on his face. He began to tell the others about his trip to visit Dottore Massimo. Sakura was about to flip out when he began to talk about seeing Scipio, before she lost control she left.

"Where are you going Sakura?" Bo asked

"I don't want to hear what Victor has to say." The she left. Sakura silently ran to her room and grabbed her jacket, then went for the door. Just before she disappeared behind the curtain, she heard a crunch and Victor cursing at Riccio. She laughed quietly to herself then ran off to find Scipio.


End file.
